Wrenching on the S550

Put the other nuts on and torque to release some of the clamp load off the last stud. When you are pulling wheels (or a geto spacer), crack each nut like 1/8 turn reverse star pattern before completely backing any one nut off.

After you get spacer off, Use a piece of soft wood or wood with notch with adapter/spacer in vice to push all those junk studs out of that spacer. Drill all the spacer holes out 5/8” deming bit in your hand drill or drill press. Now you have a thru hole spacer. Then swap your wheel studs for longer studs since you need to change the studs anyway.

I have really enjoyed some of the mods on my 2016 Mustang, but I pulled the engine and transmission from my 1970 Mustang recently (I actually have every unboltable part removed from it right now). The 1970 is so much easier to work on it's not even close.

I think metric fasteners are dumb. Well not metric fasteners exactly, but having a 1 mm gap between different fastener sizes is crummy compared to the english system gaps between fasteners. It's much, much easier to tell the difference between english fastener sizes by eye compared to metric sizes. They should have standardized on even metric sizes only and left out all the odd sizes.

The other thing about newer cars is the advent of CAD allows designers to pack parts a lot more tightly into a car. It's a real PITA to remove the transmission vent tube, for example.

Hack said:

I have really enjoyed some of the mods on my 2016 Mustang, but I pulled the engine and transmission from my 1970 Mustang recently (I actually have every unboltable part removed from it right now). The 1970 is so much easier to work on it's not even close.

I think metric fasteners are dumb. Well not metric fasteners exactly, but having a 1 mm gap between different fastener sizes is crummy compared to the english system gaps between fasteners. It's much, much easier to tell the difference between english fastener sizes by eye compared to metric sizes. They should have standardized on even metric sizes only and left out all the odd sizes.

The other thing about newer cars is the advent of CAD allows designers to pack parts a lot more tightly into a car. It's a real PITA to remove the transmission vent tube, for example.

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It's all a part of the automobile companies goal to "black box" the vehicles so you can't work on them.

A friend of mine has a 2015 Porsche 911 and changing the air filters took 30 minutes. Most of that time was removing the rear bumper. Clearly Porsche isn't interested in the DIY crowd.

I'm about to install some BMR SP089/SP082 springs, CB005 Cradle Bushing Lockout kit, a Reische 170 thermostat, and my Velossa Tech big mouth air duct.

Bought the Daytona jack at HF since it's a clear rip off of the Snap-On one and it's one really awesome sturdy jack! Also bought a set of 4 aluminum jacks. Amazing how light they are.

Looking forward to doing the work! Hopefully not much cursing.

I found the Mustang to be a joy to work on. Modern day fasteners since roughly 1999 have so much better machining that the once the bolt or nut is broke free, they general remove by hand.

Header install is not that hard, but I can see it being a pain when performing it on jack stands.

I read comment about after 10 years the car will be harder to work on. I live in the rust belt capital of the world and today's fastener's still remove with ease. Exhaust manifold gaskets jobs used to be one of the most difficult ones, with almost every bolt breaking off, these days the job is not that terrifying.

[MENTION=27640]bjstang[/MENTION], looking good

Hack said:

I have really enjoyed some of the mods on my 2016 Mustang, but I pulled the engine and transmission from my 1970 Mustang recently (I actually have every unboltable part removed from it right now). The 1970 is so much easier to work on it's not even close.

I think metric fasteners are dumb. Well not metric fasteners exactly, but having a 1 mm gap between different fastener sizes is crummy compared to the english system gaps between fasteners. It's much, much easier to tell the difference between english fastener sizes by eye compared to metric sizes. They should have standardized on even metric sizes only and left out all the odd sizes.

The other thing about newer cars is the advent of CAD allows designers to pack parts a lot more tightly into a car. It's a real PITA to remove the transmission vent tube, for example.

Click to expand...

I have to agree with you on SAE sizes, much easier to look at it and know the size

Zelek said:

I'm about to install some BMR SP089/SP082 springs, CB005 Cradle Bushing Lockout kit, a Reische 170 thermostat, and my Velossa Tech big mouth air duct.

Bought the Daytona jack at HF since it's a clear rip off of the Snap-On one and it's one really awesome sturdy jack! Also bought a set of 4 aluminum jacks. Amazing how light they are.

Looking forward to doing the work! Hopefully not much cursing.

Click to expand...

Be sure to post some pics

Hack said:

I have really enjoyed some of the mods on my 2016 Mustang, but I pulled the engine and transmission from my 1970 Mustang recently (I actually have every unboltable part removed from it right now). The 1970 is so much easier to work on it's not even close.

Click to expand...

Not to mention you can basically strip that car to nothing with the most basic set of tools. And not even curse much.

I enjoyed doing the mods I've done to my '15, but working on my old stuff is a joy.

Strokerswild said:

Not to mention you can basically strip that car to nothing with the most basic set of tools. And not even curse much.

I enjoyed doing the mods I've done to my '15, but working on my old stuff is a joy.

Click to expand...

The older stuff is especially a joy when you've had it apart in the last 10-15 years, didn't drive it in rain or snow since then, and used anti-seize on everything the last time you touched it. We had some bolts on the fenders snap off because I never had them off the car, but the mechanical stuff all came off super easy.

Well I decided to try getting the PETA Eibach wheel spacer off today. Tried keeping all the other nuts tight and an even bigger breaker bar and got no where. Heated it up for about 10 minutes and tried again. Nothing. Decided to hit it with the air chisel and I was able to get some of the nut away from the stud threads, but had to finish with an air drill. I still had to take the other nuts off and pry the thing off after all that. The damn stud STILL had part of the nut wrapped around the threads enough that I couldn't remove it. The cutoff wheel took care of that finally, and I was able to replace the stud and get it all back together.

Now for the other three wheels. First two a bitch, but no problems. Last wheel, last nut. Won't come off. Tried like hell with the breaker bar. I reluctantly decided to try the impact gun. Thing didn't move for a while and then spun. I thought it finally broke loose. Nope. Took the socket off only to find the nut completely rounded off. Put it all back together and said F it. Looks like I get to bust out the chisel and drill again another day. Good times!!! I love my car, I love my car, I love my car.....

Definately sucks all the fun out of wrenching. Any idea why that’s happening?